Today, at the Parliament's session was approved the concept for the development of mass media of Republic of Moldova, namely the new Audiovisual Code. Here, President of Moldovan Parliament, Andrian Candu expressed his gratitude to all who participated at the document's elaboration.

"We previously spoke of developing mass media and I am happy to announce that the concept of the  Audiovisual Code was approved at the first session. It greatly pleases me that at the project's elaboration participated, first of all, the civil society from Republic of Moldova, international experts, supported by the European Council, European Union and the U.S. Government. Some of the best specialists arrived to Republic of Moldova to assist our legislation, tied to mass media, to make the laws more similar to those from EU.

As promised, when the working group was formed in the Parliament, the group's result will be signed by myself and my colleagues from the Parliament and will be promoted by the Parliament.

At the moment, the Parliament's working group, made out of experts from the civil society have drawn two normative acts, to develop the mass media and Audiovisual services. We expect in the near future a few more important projects to be drawn, normative acts regarding online press, advertisement, facilities and privileges of the video industry.

Regretfully, some of my colleagues from the Parliament have not only refused to participate in this process, which lasted ten months, but also let emotions rule over them when the Audiovisual Code was discussed.

I wish to once again express my gratitude to the working group and experts, both local and international, for participation in the elaboration of the two normative acts. Perhaps the most difficult document of the Audiovisual Code and I am greatly pleased that today, it was approved in the first session" Andrian Candu declared.

Also, the President of the Parliament mentioned that the Audiovisual Code will be sent to be examined to the end of the week, while by the end of the session it will be approved.

"This code will be sent to an international expertise at the most important organizations, such as the European Council, the European Union, OSCE and international non-governmental organizations. I hope that the code will be approved by the end of the session from June.

I hope that we have made an important step to develop the mass media industry.

The socialists criticize it and mention that this code will limit the activity of the attorneys on the media market. The code will have a transition period, that will last at least half a year. The new code reiterates the newest European stipulations that were approved by the EU. There are also new elements on the publicity sphere. There are news elements that will bring benefits. There is an international rank of the free press, called World Press Index and in 90's, when the communists were leading the country, Moldova was ranking 114, while in 2018 we rank 80", said Andrian Candu.

PUBLIKA.MD reminds that the Audiovisual Code of the Republic of Moldova was elaborated by national and international experts within the working group for developing the press legislation. The document provides a vast range of stipulations regarding the audiovisual communication, including: free speech, gender equality, editorial independence and so on.

The project was elaborated based on the experience of multiple European countries. The document is meant to adjust the national legislation in the field of mass media to the EU law.